Washington Commanders should have picked the Red Hogs name

Doug Williams seemed a bit stunned. And judging by his stalling, it appeared as if he even disapproved of the Washington Soccer Workforce’s new identify.

The Washington Commanders.

The Nationwide Soccer League franchise formally revealed its long-awaited secret with a rebrand on Wednesday, burying the identify Washington Soccer Workforce on NBC’s “TODAY” present. It had used that generic moniker because it dropped its earlier identify, lengthy thought of a racist slur towards Native People, in July 2020 following the specter of company sponsors pulling enterprise.

In the course of the announcement, Williams, a workforce govt and the primary Black quarterback to win a Tremendous Bowl, sat beside workforce President Jason Wright, the primary Black workforce president within the NFL.

“We’re the Commanders,” Williams mentioned. 

“It’s one thing that permits us to tie the wealthy historical past and championship legacy of this franchise to new traditions of the long run,” added Wright.

The NFL workforce, which is value greater than $4 billion, nonetheless has the identical issues — there are new sexual harassment allegations surrounding the proprietor, Dan Snyder, accusations Snyder has denied.

And now the workforce has its new model. But it surely missed an opportunity to revisit a enjoyable a part of its previous with its identify change. Right here’s why.

The Commanders isn’t the worst identify the workforce may have chosen, however it’s not unique, both.

The short-lived Alliance of American Soccer owned the San Antonio Commanders franchise earlier than the league folded in 2019. Therefore, it’s possible the identify was up for grabs after the soccer property filed for chapter. The league owed greater than $40 million, $7 million of that to MGM, which was an preliminary investor in AFF, based on The Wall Road Journal. 

All through the search, Wright, who took the function of president in August 2020, solicited fan responses for a brand new identify. He wrote in a weblog put up that the franchise couldn’t go together with fan favourite the Crimson Wolves due to emblems held by different groups. And the Presidents, one other rumored identify, was the least favourite amongst polls of NFL followers.

Analysis firm the Morning Seek the advice of discovered the Defenders identify was essentially the most favorable. The Admirals and Commanders had been subsequent.

However main as much as the identify reveal, I grew to become inquisitive about what a real fan would suppose. So I referred to as my good pal Ron Burke, a lifelong Washington soccer fan, and he advised me in regards to the Hogs.

The Hogs nickname traces again to the Eighties offensive linemen, together with Professional Bowlers Jeff Bostic, Joe Jacoby and Russ Grimm. The group was coached by longtime assistant Joe Bugel, the creator of the “Hogs” nickname. The unit helped Washington seem in three Tremendous Bowls in the course of the Eighties, successful within the 1982 and 1987 seasons.

“The identify was there, however it by no means took off till you began successful,” Grimm mentioned in a video explaining the Hogs’ origins. “The followers — they made it as huge because it’s turned out to be,” added Grimm, who was often called “Porky.”

The group was enjoyable and had character. The Hogs grew with their annual “5 o’clock membership” gatherings, which began in 1982 and came about after practices. And based on Jacoby, they created Hog T-shirts that they wore each Thursday or suffered a $5 nice among the many group. That cash collected helped fund their annual Hogs social gathering.

“You needed to be ugly, you needed to be fats, and also you needed to be semi-lineman to be within the 5 o’clock membership,” joked former Washington lineman Don Warren within the video. 

After researching the Hogs, I believed the identify was an awesome match for the workforce and the enterprise would excel. The merchandise play was there with the Hog noses. Followers would most likely costume up once more because the “Hogettes.” And Ron had some options about how the franchise may honor the unique Hogs for the primary few seasons to assist reintroduce the historical past and rebuild the model.

The Crimson Hogs. Ron agreed. My CNBC colleague, Dominic Chu, even chimed in on Twitter to approve of “Warthogs” — however that was after the workforce went with the Commanders.

“That’s what we’re,” Williams mentioned. “We’ve bought to go ahead with it. And I do just like the identify. It has a great sound to it. The Washington Commanders.” 

On Wednesday, I tuned in to “TODAY” for the reveal, despite the fact that the identify was now not a secret after a video shot from a helicopter captured the Commanders identify contained in the workforce’s house stadium, FedEx Subject.

“It’s a reputation that has the burden and that means befitting a 90-year-old franchise,” Wright defined in the course of the reveal. “It’s one thing that broadly resonated with our followers and it’s one thing that we imagine embodies the values of service and management that basically outline the [District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia area]. 

“It’s additionally one thing, importantly, that we may personal and develop for the subsequent 90 years,” Wright added.

Maybe Ron, Dominic and I are within the minority relating to any model of the Hogs identify. It sounded enjoyable, although.

Following the reveal, e-commerce firm Fanatics advised CNBC the Commanders was the top-selling workforce throughout its platform. As well as, the corporate added 4 of the highest 5 promoting merchandise: two Commanders jerseys, a workforce hoodie and an extended sleeve T-shirt. 

The fifth most-popular merchandise: Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, as a result of the NFL quarterback retired sooner or later earlier than the Commanders identify went stay.  

And that Morning Seek the advice of ballot? Effectively, it confirmed the Crimson Hogs identify is without doubt one of the least standard. It seems 54% of followers thought the identify was unfavorable. Armada and the Presidents had been additionally on the backside of the checklist.

Requested his response to followers who disapprove of the Commanders identify, Williams responded: “What I might say to these individuals is — with guys like Jonathan [Allen] and this soccer workforce, they’re going to return to like the Commanders.” 

I nonetheless just like the Crimson Hogs.